Local yoga teacher retires

Published: Friday, December 21, 2012 at 08:34 PM.

After more than 55 years training others to be healthy, Jean Warren is retiring from teaching fitness.

She’s not retiring from fitness, however.

“I’ll do what I tell everybody,” said Warren, 77. “You’ve got to stay busy. You’ve got to work out to live longer.”

She’s been a fixture in the local fitness scene since moving to Gastonia 30 years ago. She helped popularize step aerobic exercise in Gaston County more than 20 years ago. She’s also taught yoga in Gastonia for more than a decade, first at GAC Fitness Today and continuing at the South Gaston YMCA after the “Y” acquired the club in 2005.

“I’m not one of those yoga gurus,” she said. “I’m just a normal person teaching a class.”

Warren, who taught her last class at the South Gaston YMCA Thursday, took up yoga long before it started gaining popularity in the U.S. back in the 1980s. She got into it shortly after becoming a part-time fitness instructor when she was a 22-year-old living in Florida.

“It’s very popular, it still is popular,” she said. “I was just ahead of my time.”

After more than 55 years training others to be healthy, Jean Warren is retiring from teaching fitness.

She’s not retiring from fitness, however.

“I’ll do what I tell everybody,” said Warren, 77. “You’ve got to stay busy. You’ve got to work out to live longer.”

She’s been a fixture in the local fitness scene since moving to Gastonia 30 years ago. She helped popularize step aerobic exercise in Gaston County more than 20 years ago. She’s also taught yoga in Gastonia for more than a decade, first at GAC Fitness Today and continuing at the South Gaston YMCA after the “Y” acquired the club in 2005.

“I’m not one of those yoga gurus,” she said. “I’m just a normal person teaching a class.”

Warren, who taught her last class at the South Gaston YMCA Thursday, took up yoga long before it started gaining popularity in the U.S. back in the 1980s. She got into it shortly after becoming a part-time fitness instructor when she was a 22-year-old living in Florida.

“It’s very popular, it still is popular,” she said. “I was just ahead of my time.”

More than 20 million Americans practiced yoga in 2010, according to figures by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. One of reasons Warren said she’s remained a yoga advocate is because of the benefits it offers. They include:

Improved breathing and relaxation. The controlled breathing techniques and meditations yoga teaches can help with concentration, Warren said. The techniques can also be used outside the yoga studio to bring about a sense of calm. “It brings energy and life to your extremities,” she said. “Nobody leaves my class breathless.”

Improved strength. “You’re using your arms and legs, you’re using everything,” she said. “You can just feel those muscles elongating.”

Better posture and flexibility. Those constantly bent over and those with poor sitting posture can benefit from the slow stretches utilized in yoga, Warren said. “You get a lot of stretching,” she said. “Your whole spinal column can change. It’s working on all your muscles. You don’t even realize it.”

Weight maintenance. Studies have indicated that yoga can help participants keep weight off, even though it doesn’t burn as many calories as higher intensity exercises. Warren said that’s because of the self-discipline yoga requires.

Because many of the students in her class were over the age of 60, Warren also pointed out that many of the prescribed yoga poses can be modified for older adults and seniors wanting to improve or maintain their coordination and balance.